Bad Moon Rising
by Hazel Lea Tifiaeh
Summary: There are few things Dean knows for sure, one of them is when you come across a demon or anything else of that nature you kill it. But what happens when a girl stands between him and a vamp. She appears to be human, but not like what he is used to. Even more is she saved Sammy's ass, something he can respect. Will he listen to his gut this time? Or follow what he knows to be best?
1. Chapter 1

"I... you... he just turned to _dust_ ," Sam stuttered as he tried to grasp the scene before him.

"Yeah, they tend to do that kid," the woman in red chimed in as she caught her breath, making sure that he was okay in the process.

" _Sam_!" Came the familiar sound of Sam's brother in the distance. " _Sam! Answer me dammit_."

"Huh, so the kid has a name," was all the husky voice said.

"Uh yeah, my name is..." But Sam was cut off as she raised her hand.

He watched has her cinnamon brown hair bounced as her head moved to look at something in the distance, it appeared she was seeing, or even hearing, something beyond what he could hear or see.

If someone had told him this morning that he would be in a graveyard, with a girl wearing skin tight clothes that seemed almost impossible to move in, even though she moved with such speed and grace she seemed not human, being chased by what he only could assume to be vampires, however, different than the vampires he knew about, which were killed not just decapitation, but also by jabbing pieces of wood into their heart to turn them to dust. Well, he probably would have thought that person was insane. But here he was. With Dean in the distance looking for him. And as much as he would like to go to his brother he was being held in place behind one of the many angel statues that littered the graveyard by a girl that looked like she probably weighed less than a buck fifty. And the icing on this crazy cake? The only one here that has succeeded in killing the weird vampires, the girl. He was pulled from his thoughts but the sound of her husky voice again.

"Star," she whispered.

"Pardon? Oh uh is that your name?"

"What?" Her head snapped to him again. "Oh no. Look here is the plan. I will lure the rest away, while you run to your boyfriend or whatever.

"He's not my... he's my brother. Wait what? What others." Just then he heard a noise. He looked around the statue to see another small group of what he assumed to be the vampires she had talked about. But how had she known they were there? Clearly, there was more to this girl than meets the eyes.

"Spread out and find the human. But watch out for the Slayer, she might still be protecting him," one of the vampires said.

"That's my cue. Good luck kid." She gave him a wink before standing up and walking around the statue. "Hey, _Walking Dead_ rejects. Over here." He watched in silence as she mocked them.

"You're going to regret that Slayer."

"Please, what's a weak little thing like you gonna do. Lick me to death? Borning. If I want a real vampire I have one on speed dial."

"That's it. Get her!"

She threw one last wink his way before bolting in the other direction. The group of vampires following her. Sam waited for a few moments before standing up and turning around, but as he turned around came face to face with someone, he couldn't tell who. So he struck out with his fist hitting them square in the jaw.

"Dammit Sam! It's me!" Dean shouted before taking a few steps back from his brother while rubbing his jaw.

"Dean? Oh, thank god, Dean. I am so sorry."

"What the hell is going on Sam? You just disappear on me and I find you in a graveyard of all places."

"Now's not the time to explain. I think we have to help her.."

"Help what? Help who? Sam from..."

"The vampires Dean! She lured them away from me." Sam could tell Dean wanted more information but the hunter in him won the battle.

"Which way?"

"Uh, this... this way." Sam started to lead Dean the way he had remembered the girl running, but a problem quickly surfaced as he didn't know where she went after that. It was an open graveyard. She could have switched directions at the drop of a hat. And so it wasn't long before both of them stopped walking, clearly giving up.

"Look man. We tried. But this place is huge and..."

"Yeah, I know." Sam hung his head in defeat.

"Hey. Hey, Sam listen to me." He grabbed by the back of his neck. "Right now the only thing we can do is hope they didn't turn her. Let's regroup and come back to take out the nest before they hurt anyone else. That's all we can do for her right now. Okay." He let Sam go. "Come on." He started walking in the direction of the hotel then.

Sam ran his hand through his hair before looking up and looking around. He hoped she made it out okay. Dean didn't know what he knew. And maybe that was for the best. It gave Sam hope, but he knew if he tried to explain this to Dean he wouldn't believe him. Or just assume she was something else evil. Sam couldn't believe that. Wouldn't believe that. Sighing he proceeded to follow Dean. After taking a few steps he noticed a pile of dust to the left of him. A small smile broke on his lips. Maybe she did make it.

"Hey, Sammy. Let's go."

"Yea, coming." With a new hope, he followed his brother once and for all.


	2. Chapter 2

After Faith dusted all the vampires she made her way to where she knew her long time friend Star to be. Before she could even great her Star spoke up in her soft voice.

"And who was the civilian that we including in the patrol this time?"

"Okay, Giles." Was her snarky retort. Faith sighed as she looked at her friend. She hadn't meant to get the dude involved. But at the same time she had saved his life. "But I totally..."

"Stop, yes I know. We saved his life. Vampires bad, saving people good. I get it, girl. But you couldn't just..." She sighed and ran a hand through her curly, brown hair. "I am turning into Giles aren't I?" Her doe-brown eyes got wide as Faith chuckled.

"Come on girl, let's grab a bite to eat. Because I am..."

"Yes, yes. Hungry and horny. Let's focus on the hungry right now, huh?"

Faith grinned as they left the graveyard and made their way to the nearest steakhouse for eating pleasure. And hey the night was still young, so it was possible she would have time for the other kind of pleasure she was hoping for. But at the same time going to a steakhouse wouldn't likely yield what she was looking for. Not in a guy anyway, sure bros tended to hang out there, but their attention was on their other buddies, the food, and likely the game or whatever was on TV. A bar on the other hand. That was prime real estate location. The amount of guys at a bar were always in the high numbers. Especially since the reason they were there was the same reason she was going to be there, which always made things easy for her. Now she would just have to fly it by Star, who always seemed to be anti one night stand more into commitment and thought Faith should do the same.

"Hey, lover, how about we nix the steakhouse and hit a bar instead?"

"Is the reason we are going to the bar is so you can find some low life to drag back the motel room?"

"Psh na, I was just thinking," she walked up and linked her arms with her friend. "Since we're getting a little low on the dough I figured it would just be the smartest choice. I mean hell I could probably get us a full course meal for free... Why are you shaking your head no?"

"I admit that a bar would be the slightly smarter option, definitely less pricey than a steakhouse, but you are not going to seduce or tease or anything else like that to get us a free, or discounted or anything like, that meal. Capichè?"

"Okay, you know big words confuse me. Say that again?"

"Faith, stop trying to act dumb. You and I both know you are smarter than that," Star paused for a moment. "I'm just going to go ahead and stop myself. We've been working really hard lately. And I suppose we do deserve a night out, and a free meal wouldn't be bad. However." She gave Faith a pointed look. "Nobody besides us will be returning to the motel tonight. Promise?"

"Pinky."

They pinky promised before turning directions and heading toward the nearest bar.

'I'm not really turning into Giles am I?"

"I have been contemplating calling you little G," Faith answered with a laugh.

"What? No, that so... so wrong!"

"Oh! How about G.J. For Giles junior! Or maybe J.G. Switch it around."

Faith laughed more as Star reached out and swatted at her.

"Come on, I need to get my booze and food on." Faith then intertwined her fingers around Star's as they walked the final few feet to Sundance Saloon.

Faith grabbed the door for her friend and held it open, once Star walked in she followed suit. Smiling to herself to took in everything that was the bar. The music. The smells, ranging anywhere from food to the disgusting smell of vomit. The dim lights, except for those at the bar.

Despite her earlier protests Star did not attempt to stop Faith in any way as she zoned in on the guy that would be buying them dinner. Faith used all her tricks, first getting him to get them drinks, soon followed by dinner with a promise that would not be kept, of both girls sharing a bed with the guy in question. Luckily for her, the guy was already pretty drunk and after losing a round of shots to Faith the dude soon passed out where he sat. She then collected the dinner and made her way over to the table that Star was currently sitting at, watching the whole experience go down in case Faith needed backup, not that she ever did, or ever would as most guys even sober couldn't take her.

"I feel like I should have gone for honey barbeque wings with blue cheese dressing and fries since we were getting this for free."

"I told you, " Faith mumbled around the giant bite of double bacon barbecue burger she had just taken a bite out of.

"Still, this is a pretty good salad."

"You're not gonna leave the burger and just eat the salad are you?"

"No, and before you no you cannot have my burger either."

Faith pouted for a moment before taking another huge bite followed by shoving some fries into her mouth as well. A few moments later she chugged a good portion of her beer. In the midst of attempting to take another bite she was stopped by the question, she hardly ever heard.

"Hey, isn't that the guy you saved?"

Faith put her burger down and looked in the direction her friend was indicating. Sure enough, there was the same kid she had saved in the graveyard. She was happy to see he had made it out alive, that her efforts hadn't been in vain.

"Son of a bitch, that is him."

"Now that I see him in a better light she isn't that bad looking."

"Yeah, he really isn't. And his friend looks rather edible as well."

"Of course, you would say that."

"What," Faith laughed.

Faith eyes connected with the man in question and she gave him a sultry smiled. When he smiled back she knew she had him on the hook. She watched as he said something to the guy she had rescued. Then time seemed to slow as he turned to look at them. Faith saw in his eyes when he recognized her. He spoke something to the guy she had been making eyes with. They exchanged a few words and next thing she then they were headed to the table the girls were at.


	3. Chapter 3

"Now listen here Sammy, vampires don't just turn to dust okay. It goes against everything we know."

"I know, Dean, I know. But I am telling you. I saw it with my own eyes. She staked it in the heart and poof. Dust."

"Wait, so she didn't even take it's head off?"

"Some of them sure, but mostly, no. Just a stake in the heart."

"Alright look, when we get back to the room we'll do some research okay. It's been a long day. I just want to enjoy my beer and my food."

"No, you're right. There isn't much we can do now." Sam closed his laptop before closing his eyes. He took a few deep breaths, just listening to the sounds of the bar Dean had chosen for dinner. Of course, Sam knew it was so he could scope out the local women. Something he was used to by now. But his mind was focused on the girl in the graveyard, her brown hair and eyes flashed before his mind. He hoped she made it out alright. She certainly seemed to know how to handle herself in regard to the vampires, but he had seen other hunters that were confident in their ability and end up dead in the end anyway.

Shaking his head softly he opened his eyes and focused on the salad in front of him. Only half listening to the mumbles coming from Dean as he moaned about how good the food was and how hot the girls were. It was all things he had heard before. In fact, he heard it everywhere he went. It almost made Sam wish that Dean would find a girl that would throw him on his ass. Someone that would keep him on his toes so much that he wouldn't even consider looking at another girl. Sure Dean had taken a big step in settling in with Lisa, and he knew he loved Lisa and Ben. But at the same time, Lisa couldn't keep up with the hunter life, and Sam could tell that tore Dean up a little inside. The closest he had come had been Jo. And things hadn't ended well for her.

"Hey yo Sammy, you alive in there?"

"Huh, oh. Yeah. Sorry. Just thinking about things."

"Bro, you got to get this out of your mind. There is nothing we can do now. She is probably long gone."

"No, you didn't see what I did. She... she wasn't just some girl."

"Alright, alright. I promise we will look for her. Tomorrow man, because if she is alive her chances of getting away are still slim. The vampires might have her, it would be smart to wait until the day to search for their nest."

"Thank you."

"Yea, don't mention it." Dean yawned and stretched before going back to his food.

Sam was glad Dean agreed to look for her. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't get much sleep tonight. It was tearing him up inside that this girl risked her life to save him. He was a hunter for god sake. He should have been able to take the vampires on, to help protect her.

Groaning he rubbed his face before taking a drink of his beer. Maybe he could at least do more research tonight. He opened his laptop again and searched for anything on vampires that he hadn't looked at before. But he didn't get too far as he was interrupted by Dean, again.

"Hey check out that babe a few tables back. She is totally checking me out."

Sam shook his head as Dean gave one of his trademark looks to the poor thing behind him that had captured his brother's attention. "I'd rather not."

"Come on man. She's with a friend. Who knows maybe she's into the dorky, computer nerd types."

"Thanks, Dean." Sam chuckled softly. He knew his brother meant well, for the most part. But the casual dating thing really wasn't his speed. And when you lived the way they did that was all you could really hope for. A good one night stand, that maybe lasted more than one night. But nothing that was considered real commitment.

"Come on Sam, at least take a gander. Besides, I think the friend is checking you out."

Sam sighed in frustration before taking a quick glance back. But then he paused and took a longer look at the two. The one he didn't recognize, but the other. The one in red. _Her_ he knew. "That's her." He turned back to his table and slammed his laptop shut.

"What? What the hell Sam?"

"That's the girl. The one that was in the graveyard."

"You're shitting me. You must be mistaken."

"Trust me Dean, I am not."

He pushed his seat back then and got up. Dean was smart enough to quickly follow suit. He saw the look of brief concern in the girl's eyes before they were gone. He saw the other girl whispered something quickly to the one in red before they finally approached the table.

"How the hell are you still alive," Sam blurted out.

"Good seeing you too kid. This the boyfriend?" She tilted her head in a half-cock as she gave Dean a good once over.

"Brother actually," Dean cut in. "I'm Dean, this is Sammy. My little brother has been telling some tales about you."

"I can assure you they are all true." She winked at them.

Sam heard a thud that sounded like a kick under the table, and the girl he didn't recognize seemed to glare at the other.

"I'm Faith, and this is Star."

"So you're Star." Sam turned his attention to the other girl.

"You know my name? How do you... how does he know my name already?" Star looked at Faith.

"What? I had to pinpoint your location so I can draw the vam..." Thud. Another kick. "Really ugly dudes away," she finished.

"You mean vampires right? Only I don't think they were vampires, at least not the ones we're used to."

"Sammy," Dean hissed. "Just ignore my brother, he's had a few too many." Dean tried to laugh off.

"I have not. She know's what I am talking about. Don't you. That's how you knew how to kill them. Am I right?" He placed his hands on the table and looked into her eyes.

"You got balls kid, I'll give you that." She sighed.

There were a few moments of silence as Sam waited for her to say more. But it was not broken by words. Not really. First, it was broken by the sound of Dean's phone.

"Sam, it's Bobby."

Sam straightened up then as his brother answered the phone.

"Yeah Bobby, what's up?"

There was more silence as Dean listened to what was being said, but the two girls were exchanging an awful lot of looks considering they weren't actually talking.

"Sammy, we caught a case," Dean said hanging up.

"Faith, it's Angel," Star said.

"Shit." Faith seemed to follow her gaze before looking back at them. "It was a pleasure, boys." They both stood up and gathered their things before they started to walk away, but Faith seemed to pause and look back. "And kid, stay out of the graveyard. It's hazardous to your health." She winked at him again before fully walking away.

"We don't have time for that now Sammy, let's go." Dean pulled on his arm.

Looking away Sam looked to his brother to see that he was serious. They did indeed appear to have a case. Nodding Sam followed him out of the bar and back to their room.


	4. Chapter 4

"You are _so_ lucky Angel is here," Star hissed.

Faith just rolled her eyes. She knew why her friend was mad. The same reason Angel would likely be handing her her ass right now if he knew. She had not played that how Star had expected her too. But Star hadn't been there. Sure Faith had done most of the damage and dominated the fight, but that kid, he knew what he was doing. Her suspicions had been confirmed during their confrontation. He even admitted to having knowledge of vamps, but what did he mean when he said they weren't like what he was used to? The only other vampires she had the oh so not pleasure of fighting had been the Uber-Vamps The First had employed to do its bidding. He couldn't very well have been talking about them, could he?

She shook her head. No. All those ugly bastards had been dealt during the battle. If they hadn't been killed, they were sealed away. End of story. So then what?

"Hey Angel man, besides Ubers have you heard of any other type of vamps?" She glanced at Star before turning her attention to him.

"Faith," Star snapped.

They all stopped walking.

"Do I even wanna know what you two are clearly not fighting about?" Angel asked.

"No," They said in unison, giving each other looks.

"Well, at least you can both agree on that." He shook his head at them. "But no, I have not heard of other kinds. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." she shrugged.

"Should this be something I put Wes on?"

"Na, book-club has enough going on by the sounds of this case." She waved him off.

"Fair enough. One final question."

"Shoot."

"Is this something I should be worried about?" He crossed his arms as he looked at them both.

"No," Faith replied.

"Yes," Star answered at the same time.

"And that's my cue to drop this. Can we focus now?"

"Sure thing boss. What's the demon?"

"Before I go into that, how was patrol? Anything I should know about?"

"No," They said in unison again.

He looked at them both with narrowed eyes before going into the case they had. Faith only half listened as they started walking again. She only cared about one thing when it came to these cases. How to kill the thing they were after. Of course, there was always a general surefire way to kill someone, take off its head. Unless it didn't have one.

"Or it's a hydra," Star finished.

Faith stopped, Angel did too. Had she been thinking out loud? No. She was sure she hadn't. Her eyes shifted to Star, who seemed to realize the mistake she made.

"Oops."

Faith sighed in frustration.

"Since I clearly was not talking about anything to do with a hydra, and I know very well that Faith just tunes me out once she knows how to kill the thing I am going to say you got that from her. Now the real question here is how? She was not talking." His stern looking face seem to make Star sink into her skin. Faith had to detour this fast before it got too bad.

"Look Angel man, we can stand here all day contemplating where Star came up with that, but if we stand around much longer the three of us will turn out to be the two of us plus a pile of ash. How about we head back to the Hyperion and worry about more important things. Like this thing that is terrorizing..." she paused as this was about the time she stopped listening fully.

Angel sighed. "Family Faith, a family."

"Right! Let's go research up and then come nightfall we'll kill the bastard." She clapped her hands and started walking. She was glad to see Angel followed, shortly after Star did as well.

' _Thank you.'_

Faith heard whispered in her mind.

' _Yeah, of course, lover. Just let's not let it happen again okay?'_ she responded.

It was a funny thing the dynamic between her and Star. Everyone in Angel Inc questioned the relationship they shared, and even Faith had to sometimes wonder her original attraction to the shy girl that had grown to become her best friend, occasional lover, and moreover yet her unofficial watcher and probably the only person besides Angel that kept her from going over the deep end anymore. She loved the girl, not that she would ever say it out loud.

To make things more interesting is Star was somehow known as a half-vampire. A fact that was only known to Star and herself. Something was different about Star, somehow her transition from human to vampire was never complete. She could to be out in the sun, if only for a few amount of hours at a time. Crosses didn't bother her, and more importantly, she didn't have the full hunger of a vampire. In fact, normally she could get along fine unless she was hurt really bad. Which is where the sexual part of their relationship developed.

Faith had already been close to Star by the time she had found out. So in an effort to help the girl she offered her her blood whenever she needed it, but even Faith had a problem with her blood being drank normally. But then she found in the moments of passion she didn't much notice the act, so that was how she provided blood from then on out. The only problem with it, it somehow created a metal connection between the two girls. Faith wasn't sure how, or even why, but after feeding Star a few times she noticed that they could pick up on each other's thoughts every now and then. They were able to have short communications telepathically, and they were able to get a faint sense of where each other was briefly from time to time.

Faith was pulled from her thoughts as she looked up at the Hyperion. Her home sweet home. The entire team of Angel Inc plus Star stayed here. Of course, Star also had her own place, for good reason. Faith spent her time toggled between the two places, but more of it was spent here. As this was the base of work for them, and Faith life mostly consisted of working cases for Angel Inc, regular slaying duties, and spending her few down time with Star.

"Ah good, you all made it. We were beginning to wonder if you had decided to stop for the day," Wesley said walking into the lobby just as they entered the hotel.

It wasn't uncommon for them to do such a thing. Angel or one of the other boys always felt the need to escort the girls back once a case showed up. In the case of Angel if they couldn't make it back to the hotel before sunrise they would stop and stay with some of the few contacts they had littered around the city.

"Faith once your done I..."

"We," Angel interrupted.

"We would like to speak with you."

"Oh joy," she grumbled.

"Pardon?"

"I'll be down shortly." She waved them off as she made her way to her room for a shower.


	5. Chapter 5

"Faith this case is, very complicated," started Wesley as both he and Angel stood before her. Not only had they been serious about talking to her after her shower, but apparently the little meeting had to happen _without_ Star. Something she was kind of annoyed about, but whatever.

"Whyyyyy," she whined. "It's just some power tripping demon messing with a family right?"

"That's...part of the problem," Angel said.

Faith sat up straight at the looks between the two boys. "Okay, what the fuck is going down?"

"Apparently, it isn't just us having these types of issues. They have been popping up a lot lately, all over. Giles and I spent a good amount talking about it while you guys were out."

"So this is like big bad stuff then?"

"Looks like it. The thing is we have no clue about much of anything right now. Other than this demon, who we think is just a player in this big fight, messing around." Wesley rubbed in between his eyes like he used to when he still wore glasses.

"The team and I can easily take him, but we need someone to go undercover. There has been chatter in the underworld parts. It looks like their recruiting humans for something," Angel continued.

"Mass sacrifice?"

"It's looking more like an army, maybe first wave type thing. Send out humans to do damage and make way before sending the rest. Who knows for sure."

"Okay, what does this have to do with me, though?"

"Their recruiting criminals. People with no morals about doing the wrong thing. I know this is a lot to ask, but you are one of the best fighters. You could get in. Be our eyes and ears. With your Slayer abilities, you would be no much for the rest. And..." Wesley couldn't finish his sentence.

"And since I am already versed in killing people I would have no problems fitting in, right?" Faith closed her eyes and took a deep breath if nothing else to keep from breaking Wes's face in.

"Faith, you know that isn't it. We've all worked past that. I would go but,"

She cut Angel off. "I get it. I am the only one that can survive everything they would throw my way, and the sun." She shook her head. "Now I know why you didn't want Star here."

For a tiny little thing, Star was very protective of Faith. She had proven more than once she would do anything to protect her, she had even knocked Wesley on his ass and surprised Angel one night when she didn't approve of the condition Faith had come back in after a patrol. Probably part of the reason Star had insisted on coming with her herself anymore.

"So what's the game plan? I go in, get dirty, come back with info?"

"In a nutshell yes."

"I am guessing I'll have to do things to prove myself, are you ready to deal with that? Because I am guessing you're benching Star for this, even though she would likely be the only one keep me from crossing the line right."

"Look, contact with us will have to be cut off for a while, to help make you look legit. But if you feel like you might fall off the edge get word to us. We will pull you out."

"No."

"Faith..." Wesley started.

"No, she's right we pull her out that soon it will all be in vain. If she goes in she will have to stay put until they trust her enough to give her assignments, and by then it would be too late to bring her back. It's up to you Faith. We can send Gunn in if need be."

"Hell no. He'd end up dead in a week. Look I respect Gunn, he's got mad skills for a human. But you were right to come to me. I am the only one that can do this. But I don't want to bring this back to us. I need an alias. I'll also need to send Star away. If she catches wind of this while I am gone she will rip you to shreds. I'm close with her family, sisters mainly. I will get them to pull her away. Once I go in none of you guys can contact me either, unless soulboy here goes evil and it's life and death I don't want to see or hear anything from Angel Inc." She stopped then. God, what if she didn't make it back this time. And she didn't mean alive. She was lucky Angel had been around both times she went crazy and was able to pull her back. Now she had to go full on murder again with no backup and no salvation.

"Wesley, I want to speak to Angel alone."

"Of course. I'll get started on setting things up for you." He nodded before leaving the room.

"Angel. I want you to promise me. If I come back bad, you won't hesitate this time."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to kill me. No question asked. End me."

"Faith..."

"No, I don't want to take the risk. This time, it's gonna get bad. If I break that's it for me. And I would rather you kill me before I hurt anyone."

God, she couldn't believe the pit in her stomach as she waited for him to respond. It was like time had stopped. The weight of the silence was crushing, making it hard for her to breath. Was this the end for her? Would this be her final mission? Despite her history Faith had lived longer than the average Slayer, she had even lived longer than Buffy. Although her death would have no effect on the slayer line at this point. Not since Willow cast that spell that activated all the potentials. She still had to wonder if her time was coming up.

"I promise."

The silence was finally broken, and she felt a bit better knowing that he had promise, but at the same time, she had this feeling of dread. She wasn't afraid of death exactly. At this point, she was more afraid to live than to die. But still, at the same time she didn't want to just not be around either. Who would take care of Star? God Star. She was going to have to make this up to her, even though she had no idea what was going on.

Faith looked up to see Angel had gone. He had probably left after promising her when she was so busy with her thoughts. That was fine, she needed some time. But she also needed to let off some steam. She was starting the feel the rage burning inside her, if she didn't do something now she would likely do something stupid. So she got on her feet and made her way to the little gym they had for sparring purposes along with keeping in shape. And the case of Faith, a way to release her pent up rage, and energy.


	6. Chapter 6

Faith stood among a large group of people, honestly, she was actually surprised how many were here. She had made it into the nest perfectly fine. Wesley plan had been flawless, as was expected from him. So now she was just through... well she really had no fucking clue what the hell was going on. Maybe some kind of orientation? She was curious as to if everyone here was here for the same crime or if they were just a random collection of criminals that had been picked this time around. Of course, now that she was thinking about it, she hoped maybe they were separated by crime. Because if she was standing next to a rapist or child molester she might get an early start to her killer side than she figured she would. Now that the thought was in her mind she couldn't help but looking around at some of the people close to her. They looked like your average John and Jane Doe. Probably where the whole "There's no way John Smith could have done those things, he's such a nice boy." Came from. Hell she probably didn't look much like someone that could kill, or you know, take on demons and vampires and other forces of darkness.

She really needed to get out of her head if she was going to survive in this place, other she would drive herself crazy, and not the good kind of crazy either. Or the kind that would help her here. God, how was she going to survive a place like this? Of course, she would survive any of the fights but everything else, that was a little iffy. She also had to be careful. As a slayer, she tended to heal faster than the average human she couldn't exactly go around and have other people see that, that might raise some eyebrows and could make this difficult for her. She wished she had more backup in this place. The more she thought about things the more she should have tried to at least get that, some kind of backup. It was bad enough she was going in blind with no weapons, they had frisked her down before blindfolding her and bring her this, wherever the hell this place was, but she had no Angel, no Wesley, hell she would even settle for Gunn right about now.

Faith balled her hand into a fist as she was getting frustrated with this whole thing already, she hated just standing around, she also hated this whole mission. She wanted to be back with Star and Angel Inc. She would kill for a burger right about now... Maybe it was a good idea that she was the one to come. Her want to kill someone just for a decent slab of red meat right about now surprised even her.

She was pulled from her thoughts as she saw movement to her left. She looked that way and noticed a familiar leather jacket walking past a few people, shortly followed by something that had something in their hand that gave off a reflection in the sun.

"Jesus, I don't want to be doing this already," she grumped to herself. But she had to know. So she followed in the direction the duo had gone. She was surprised as she moved among people their lack of reaction to being bumped into. Was this some kind of brainwashing thing that hadn't worked on her? Or maybe they were on drugs, put under sedation to keep them compliant. But then why wasn't she the same? And why weren't the two that she was following?

It wasn't long before she was able to catch up with them, and her suspicion had been right. The gleam came from a knife. But how had it been brought in here? She didn't have time to think about that as she saw the person with the knife lifting it to stab the other, who had chosen that time to stop. Thinking quickly she leaped forward and grabbed the hand with the knife before bending it back. The person shouted in pain, drawing the attention of those around them, including the one she had saved. Soon she was looking into black eyes, ones that reminded her of a demon.

"Nice trick, now watch what I can do."

She headbutted the person in the face, sending their head snapping back. To her dismay, they recovered quickly landing a very well aimed kick to her stomach. It held enough power to knock the wind out of her, causing her to lose her grip on the hand the held the blade. She had moments to react as the used the free blade to swipe at her face. When the next strike came in she saw it coming, allowing her to block it with her arm. She quickly grabbed the arm holding the knife, this time, she struck out with her other hand into the elbow. The loud pop followed by the person screaming let her know she had succeeded in breaking the elbow. The person lost the grip on the blade, allowing Faith to pull it from their grips. But it didn't slow them down too much as they used their other hand to punch her.

Faith stepped back and shook the blow off. At this point, she knew that not all of these people were in their right state of minds, whether they were under a spell, drugged, or any other number of things she wasn't sure, but what she did know was they weren't your standard humans anymore. Cause even with a broken arm, this dude was still coming at her like a bat out of hell.

"What are you a robot?"

"You're out of your league slayer," a voiced hissed at her.

That one sentence froze her on the spot. She was already found out, how was she already found out. She hadn't even done anything yet that might have given her away, so how was she found out already. She snapped herself out of her thought in time to see the, she was going to call them meat suits, rush at her. She had half a second to react, taking the knife in her hand and thrusting up into the heart as the meat suit. To make her day already worse, the meat suit had more to say before it hit the dust. It was like it was going to shake her up as much as possible.

"You keep looking for love and acceptance slayer, but you're never gonna find it," it sang sung. "They will always see you as a killer, why do you think they picked you for this mission. They knew no one else would be able to fake the anger and hatred needed for this job. That killer instinct. That's all you baby. They will never love you, nobody will ever love you. But don't worry, I'll tell Mayor Wilkins that you are back, his little firecracker."

"Shut. Your. Mouth," she growled before pulling the knife out and stabbing it in a few more times. When she finally let the meat suit drop her eyes connected with familiar green ones. "It was you. I don't understand, what are you doing here?" she asked Dean.

But she never got a response as she heard clapping, causing her to spin in the direction it was coming from.


	7. Chapter 7

Faith gripped the bloody knife in her hand as she looked at the man before her. For the time being, she pushed aside the panic that hung in her throat after killing the last person. For she had no idea who this guy was and what his intentions were. So she needed to be on her toes in case he decided to attack. The fact that he was wearing a suit and tie was throwing her off a bit, but she wouldn't let that stop her from driving the knife into his gut if need be.

"Bravo, that was really... bravo. I can see you... you are the real deal. Not even here an hour and your already taking out the competition. I applaud your tenacity. Though I do have to wonder, why did you save him?" He nodded his head in the direction of Dean.

Faith knew better than to look behind her. She had to keep her eyes on this fool. She couldn't risk being surprised with an attack. Not now. "I didn't." Was her simple answer.

Suddenly she was standing in front of the man. Or was he standing in front of her? She couldn't tell as it happened so fast.

"Don't. Lie to me. I like you, but I will snap your neck if you lie to me again."

Now that she was up close to him she noticed a distinct accent in his voice. Where it was from she had no clue, but she heard it.

She spit in his face. "I'm not lying. That dumbass just happened to be in the right place at the right time for him."

The man took a handkerchief out of his pocket and gently patted away at the spit before neatly tucking it back in. The whole thing was throwing Faith off her guard. She had never seen a demon so well behaved before. What was next, he was going to kiss her hand or something?

"Why did you kill my guy?"

"I didn't like the way he looked at me."

The man started laughing then. "I really do like you. What is your name darling?"

"Why should I give you that, you haven't even told me your name."

"Fair enough. The name is Crowley." He took her hand in his and started to lean down, but she stopped him by putting the knife to his throat.

"Go any further and I'll give you a new hole to breathe through."

"My, my. You really are a firecracker aren't you?"

Faith tensed up at that word, but it didn't stop her from pressing the blade further into his throat.

"Are we done here? Because I am really getting tired of this scene."

"By all means, I hate to keep a beauty like you from doing what you please."

She looked him up and down before she slowly lowered the blade. When she turned around she noticed she was indeed nowhere near Dean or the suit she had dropped. So he must have moved her forward somehow. As she walked towards Dean she held his eyes, she still wanted to know why he was here. How was he mixed up in this supernatural mess?

"Uh, I don't believe I got your name," Crowley said from behind her.

She turned her head to the side but didn't bother to turn all the way around. "That's because I didn't give it." She looked at Dean again and gave him a wink before walking away altogether.

Once she was several feet away from the crowd she stopped walking and took a deep, shaky breath. She looked at the dry blood and the knife she still held in her hand. God her hands were shaking badly. She dropped the knife to the ground as she tried to rub the blood off her hands, but she wasn't having much luck.

"No, come on dammit. Why won't you come off." She rubbed harder but it wasn't working. It was caked on there, like a curse, reminding her of what she had done. She heard movement behind her then, so she stopped rubbing and listened. Once they are close enough she spun around, her fist aiming for whoever was behind her. But it was blocked by Dean.

"Hey," He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. "Hey, it's okay. I won't hurt you."

"Like you could." She pulled her hand away from him and turned to walk away when his voice stopped her.

"What's a slayer?"

Shit. So he had heard that.

"Man, what are you doing here exactly? Does little brother know you're a criminal?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He got in her line of vision. "Look, I'm not here to cause you problems. I... here I know where you can wash the blood off your hands." He held his hand out for her to take.

She raised her eyebrow at him. "I'm not some damsel in distress here, you don't need to save me."

"Clearly, since you are the one that saved me just now." He dropped his hand. "Look Fai..."

"Don't finish that," she growled. "Look, you don't know me. So just... don't."

She turned to walk away again but he got in front of her again. "You're right. I don't know you. But I know what it's like. I saw your face after you stabbed that guy. You were terrified."

"Any person in their right mind would be upset that they just killed someone."

"No, that wasn't what scared you. What scared you is how easily it came. Like second nature. How you just slid that knife into his heart without even thinking about it. No hesitation, nothing."

She reached out and grabbed his throat. "Keep talking, see how easy it is for me to snap your neck."

"You won't."

"Oh yea, what are you some mind reader?"

"No, but you're not like them. Sure you killed before, you were touched by darkness, but you aren't that person anymore. And you aren't like them. You don't kill out of want or for the fun of it. You do it because you have to. You killed that guy for the sole reason to save me."

"Will you shut up before I make you shut up," she hissed, her eyes darting around. God damn this fucker was going to get her killed. But clearly, all his marbles were not present. "Why aren't you like them?"

"I've been here for a while, I've past what they've put me through so far. So they trust me. Look if you came in here like me then I know you don't have any backup, any help. Let me help you. Trust me, if anything I can keep you from crossing that line."

"What about you? If you have been in here that long how have you not crossed over?"

"I've come close, that's for sure. Would you believe me if I said the reason I didn't was because I wanted to see if what connection we had that night at the bar was real or not." He gave her probably his deal-sealing half smirk, and she had to admit, it was kind of sexy. And maybe in another place at another time, but currently...

"Bullshit."

"Alright, Sammy. I can't just do that to my brother."

"That I can believe."

She looked down at her hands again and frowned.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

"Yea, okay," she responded in almost a whisper.

When he started walking she followed him this time without protest.


	8. Chapter 8

Faith sat in silence as Dean washed the blood off her hands, she wasn't sure what happened in the past couple minutes that caused her to fall into submission, but she really didn't have the strength to care right now.

"You kept saying how you understand, you seem to have me figured out. So spill."

"Fair enough." He nodded, but he never stopped washing the blood off. "I died once... well I've died a few times. But this case was different. When I died, I ended up in hell. Fun place, you should go there sometime." He gave a soft chuckle. She didn't bite. "Okay then. Time's different down there you know."

"I've heard."

Angel had spoken about it a few times, his time in hell. He would always say the same thing. " _Times different down there Faith, faster, but yet slower. A day up here is like a century down there. But when they're ripping you to shreds, that's when time slows down."_

"The things they do to you..." He trailed off. "There was this one demon, Alastair, at the end of every day he would make me an offer. They would stop if I started. And for years I told him where to stick it. Years."

Faith just sat in silence. She knew better than to say anything. If she did he might stop, and she wanted to hear his story.

"Then I couldn't take it anymore. Then I said yes, and I started ripping them apart. I lost count of how many souls. The things that I did to them..." He looked down and shook his head.

Faith finally stood up then and got in front of him. She placed her hand on his chin and raised it up so he was looking at her. She then ran her thumb gently over his cheek, then his lips. She rested her forehead against his, as she lightly traced her lips along the path her thumb had just taken. She brushed her lips across his once, then twice, before connecting them. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her close, his hands resting on her waist. She smirked into the kiss as she felt him nibble on her lips, she complied with his silent request, as her hands ran through his hair. Grabbing a small handful she pulled his head back before playfully biting at his lips. She then started to kiss his neck, when she heard his soft moan she sensually ran the tip of her tongue up to the base of his chin. His hands had wandered up her shirt and was making their way up to her breast when his fingers lightly brushed her scar. She hissed before freezing, stopping his hands in their place. Apparently, he mistook her pause and went in for a kiss, but she leaned back as her ears picked up on someone coming.

"No stop," she hissed. She was surprised at how fast he stopped, most men weren't that considerate when a girl said stop. "I hear someone," she mouthed as she placed her finger on her lips. She noticed the change in his demeanor as he then too heard someone walking very close by to the tent they were standing in.

"I'm going to sneak out the back, don't trust Crowley or his men," Dean mouthed before silently moving away from her and towards the back.

Thinking quickly Faith pulled off her shirt and stuck it in the sink Dean had washed her hands in. She grabbed the soap and turned on the water. It wasn't long before she heard the front flap of the tent flutter open. She choose that time to look up before glaring. "Do you mind?"

"Boss, she's in here," was the only response she got as the man held the tent flap open.

She stopped the pretend scrubbing of her shirt to see what was about to happen. She rolled her eyes to see Crowley appear behind the man that had apparently located her.

"Ah, here you are darling."

"I'm _not_ your darling," she snapped.

"Ah ha, I hope you don't mind the intrusion as you do your... laundry?"

"This was my favorite shirt, and your boy ruined it with his blood." She threw the shirt at Crowley's face, not too surprised when he caught it.

"I do apologize. Tell you what, I'll buy you a new shirt, hell I'll buy you all the shirts you want, in exchange..."

"Let me guess, you'll give me anything I want if I become your little pet?" She walked towards him, swaying her him. "How about a counter offer, You'll give me whatever I want and I'll give you..." When she was in front of him she grabbed his face and pulled it close to her, she gave a little smirk before her tongue flickered out, not quite making contact with his lips. "Nothing!" She shoved him away. "You can't buy me. You have nothing I want."

"I told you she wouldn't take the deal, did I not?" he seemed to say to no one in particular, or maybe the guy that had found her was currently standing in front of the entrance flap, hard to tell. "See, _this_ is why I like you. You know," He paused like he was searching for something, but couldn't think of what.

Then it occurred to her that she still had yet to give him her name, which was probably what he was going to say. She just smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. He seemed to notice her confident demeanor for he chuckled.

"I see, you really are something aren't you. How have I never heard of someone so beautiful before?"

"My guess, company. The company you keep says a lot about you, and I choose to be by myself. Can't have anyone dragging me down can I?"

He chuckled again. "I can assure you, as one of the top players in hell, it is my job to know about people of interest up here, and you are _certainly_ a person of interest."

"Oh dropping rank now are we? What do you think that will help you get into my pants a lot faster? Because if that's your goal then you are going to have to try a _hell_ of a lot harder than that." She started to walk past him, but he held his hand up to stop her.

"Going so fast?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were done. Silly me, keep telling me more about how you want me." She smirked.

"Aha. I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun together, when you're ready to play with the real men, instead of little boys. Until then, I have a present for you." He snapped his fingers and another mindless minion walked in with a little box. It wasn't like jewelry little, because it was bigger than that, and long. But wasn't a huge box either.

"Wow, presents. I'm sorry I didn't get you anything."

"Just promise me you won't ever hold back."

The minion stopped in front of her and held out the box.

"Go ahead, take it. It won't blow up in your face, I would never do that to my best girl."

She eyed the box, but carefully took it anyway. This could work in her favor depending on what it was. And her whole mission was to get in and find out what the hell was going on. She was already getting some information, Crowley apparently was a high-level demon in hell. She wondered if Angel or Wes had heard of him.

"I'll take my leave then." And just like that Crowley and his two buddies were gone, leaving Faith alone. And shirtless.

"Come on girl, he wouldn't actually blow you up would he?" She sat the box down and eyed it more. "Jesus here goes nothing." She slowly reached up and flipped the top of the box off, she then jumped back just to make sure. When nothing happened she slowly walked over to it. When she peered into the box her breath was taken away. Laying on a velvet pillow was a beautiful bowie knife with an 8-inch blade. The handle was made with what looked like black nylon and plastic with a spider and web etched into the side, finished with gold trim and a finger hole. Something she hadn't seen on a knife before. She reached out to picked it up to admire better when she paused. She remembered another time a man in a suit gave her a knife and all the bad things that happened. She wasn't going down that road again. Not now, not ever. She turned and started to walk away, but before she left the tent she stopped. At the same time, it was a weapon, she had dropped the other knife when Dean had shown up and lord knows where it was now.

"Fuck me," she said as she spun around and grabbed it out of the box along with its sheath before walking out the tent.


	9. Chapter 9

Faith stared at the blade before her. Since accepting the gift she felt torn. Half of her felt like accepting the gift was a slap in the face to Angel, who had worked so hard twice to get her back on the right path. That accepting a gift, from a demon no less, was going down the wrong path, which was something she was trying to avoid, even if she had to act that way. The other part, well, the other part was trying to logic it. She needed a weapon if she was going to survive here. Hell, some of her fears had already become reality. She already had a few people randomly wander into her tent, all claiming to have gotten there by accident, but soon they showed their true colors. Faith took them all out, all different ways of course. But even then she never used the knife, even when it was always in arm's reach.

She picked up the blade and hopped off the bed. She had to admit, it felt good in her hands. Just like the Jackel knife had. She still had it, even after all these years. It was locked away, where even Angel didn't know about it. God what was with her and knives. Was it because they were shiny. She was never much of a girly girl, even now. So she highly doubted it was that. Guns worked well for killing people as well... demons, demons not people. Jesus who was she kidding. Guns didn't work on anything supernatural related until it was a werewolf and the bullets were silver. That's why they used swords, knives, crossbows, and stakes, among other things.

Man, this place was screwing with her psyche. She needed to get out of here, go for a walk. Have a good meal, good slay, and maybe a good...

"Hello, darling."

Faith spun around, the knife held perfectly at Crowley's throat.

"Glad to see you like my present. It suits you."

"Most guys get girls jewelry or some shit."

"True, but to be frank you are _not_ like most girls, and I'm not exactly like most guys either love."

"Oh God, I think I prefer darling. Love reminds me of... hmm." She stopped herself. No way she was going to say, Spike. Even though he had gone off to do his own thing she wasn't going to say something that could link her back to anyone at home.

"You know you have a knack for holding knives to people's throat. Really you do, and I applaud you for that, but for once CAN YOU GET THE BLOODY BLADE OUT OF MY FACE?"

"Touchy. Touchy. You know, you need to take a chill old yeller." She removed the blade from his neck, though, but kept it in her hands, just in case.

He rubbed his throat a little before speaking. "Old... where on earth did you even come up with that?"

"Just now actually. Cause you know, your old, and you just yelled."

"I... you really are a character aren't you?" He chuckled. "Down to business, I've noticed a few of my people dropping off the map lately, I don't suppose you wouldn't know anything about that would you."

"Tell your people to keep their hands to themselves and maybe they'd still be alive," she snapped.

"Now look who is getting touchy." He sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to him. "Come, have a seat."

"I'd rather stand thanks."

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"I don't trust anyone I can't touch with a ten-foot pole."

"I think you got your idioms confused. Besides, you could touch me with a ten-foot pole."

"I could also hit you upside the head with it."

"Ah-ha. You know if you are having problems you can always come to me."

"Any problem I have?"

"Anything."

"So what you're saying is, if I have _any_ kind of problem, no matter the nature, I can just..." She walked over to him and sat in his lap, throwing her arms around his neck. "Come over and tell you about it?"

"My door is always open to you." He placed his hands on her waist.

"Oh good, cause see I have this problem right now, that I wasn't sure about."

"Well don't be shy now, darling."

She gave him a smirk. "Well you see, I'm on my period and I just can _not_ find where you keep the tampons and pads at. Like anywhere."

"Arg!" He shoved her off him, to which she laughed. "You know you're really..." His nostrils flared with anger, but he never seemed to finish his thought.

"Come on Skip, I was just having fun with yea."

"This is what you call fun?"

"This is what I call making best of the situation yes. I've been here for almost a month now, I've passed all your stupid shit, and even put up with your handsy, sons of bitches, mindless freaks. I'm going off my rocker with boredom! So if that means messing with you then so be it."

"Well if that's the case why didn't you say so." He walked towards her, but she raised the knife in defense, making him stop. "Now, now love. Didn't I ask you to stop pointing that thing at me?"

"Didn't I ask you to stop calling me that?"

He laughed before trying to move around it, but she blocked him again. This time, he hit her hand away before backhanding her. As her head snapped to the side she could already taste the blood in her mouth and the light ringing in her ears. He knew how to hit, that was for sure.

"Now, look what you made me do. Here let me..."

But before he could finish she returned his backhand with an uppercut to his jaw, causing him to step back and grab his jaw.

"Woah! You really are a firecracker," he laughed.

She spit the blood out of her mouth before tonguing the cut on her lip.

"Now how did you do that?"

"What's the matter, no one with enough balls to hit you back before?"

"No, not that. The thing with your eyes."

"What thing?" She turned to look at the little mirror on her dresser, her eyes looked their normal chocolate brown to her.

"You don't know? Interesting."

"Know what? Dammit Crowley, I swear if you did something to me..."

"Easy now darling, I didn't do anything. Maybe I was wrong."

"No, don't you even dare pull that crap." She got up in his face. "Tell me what you saw."

"It was nothing really, just then you licked your own blood, which was hot by the way, really got my motor running, your eyes flashed red."

Faith tried not to let the sinking feeling show on her face, for she didn't want Crowley to know this was something that terrified her. Because she knew only vampires and demons were able to have eyes that changed.

"A girl gotta maintain some mystery, otherwise you might grow bored with me."

"Trust me, darling, I could never get bored with the likes of you. Now that all that foreplay is out of the way, let's say we go have some real fun."

"Sounds perfect."

Faith grabbed the dagger and holstered it before following Crowley out her tent. As she left the tent she sent Dean a warning glance from where he had stepped into the shadows while on his way to see her.


End file.
